Self metering feeder conveyor

ABSTRACT

A self metering conveyor feeding system supplies one or more corn processing machines with husked ears of corn. The system comprises a main conveyor belt and a narrow diverter belt running flat across the main belt for advancing ears of corn across the main belt and through an adjustable gate to feed rolls, the latter transferring the ears to the flights of a take away conveyor. A reserve supply of ears of corn is maintained at the feed roll, and when the reserve is filled, the main conveyor merely advances the excess ears past the gate and on to a downstream diverter system, if such is provided.

United States Patent Kuhn et al.

[451 Nov. 28, 1972 [54] SELF METERING FEEDER CONVEYOR [73] Assignee: FMCCorporation, San Jose, Calif.

[22] Filed: Aug. 10, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 170,543

521 user ..19s/102,19s/1ss, 209/116 51 lm. Cl ..B65g 37/00 [58]FieldoiSearch ..19s/20, 102,185,31AA;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,191,747 6/1965 Pollard..198/185 X i est 3.386560 6/1968 Ross ..l98/3l AA PrimaryExaminer-Richard A. Schacher Aztomey--F. W. Anderson et a].

[57] ABSTRACT A self metering conveyor feeding system supplies one ormore com processing machines with husked ears of corn. The systemcomprises a main conveyor belt and a narrow diverter belt running flatacross the main belt for advancing ears of corn across the main belt andthrough an adjustable gate to feed rolls, the latter transferring theears to the flights of a take away conveyor. A reserve supply of ears ofcorn is maintained at the feed roll, and when the reserve is filled, themain conveyor merely advances the excess ears past the gate and on to adownstream diverter system, if such is provided.

7 (Jainm S Drawing Figures TII3 l PATENTEDunvze m2 3. 703, 952

SHEET 1 0F 5 INVENTORS KENNETH G. KUHN NEAL C. CHAMBERLAIN ATTORNEYSPATENTEDnuvza I972 SHEET 2 OF 5 PATENTEMM 28 :912

SHEET l- BF 5 SELF METERING FEEDER CONVEYOR CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATEDAPPLICATIONS The helical brushback roller shown herein forms the subjectmatter of a copending United States application of Sears et al., Ser.No. 170,536, filed Aug. 10, I971 and assigned to the FMC Corporation.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART The US. Pat. to Connleyet al. No. 465,463, Dec. 22, 1891 shows a diverter for bricks comprisinga laterally running vertical deflecting belt disposed above the mainconveyor.

The US. Pat. to Campbell et al. No. 1,256,294, filed Feb. 12, 1918 istypical of a number of patents showing conventional pivotal typedeflector gates disposed across a mam conveyor.

The US. Pat. to Moores No. 1,479,866, Jan. 8, 1924, shows a Ushapedconveyor for loaves of bread formed by interlaced narrow belts crossedat 90.

The US. Pat. to Parker No. 1,549,499, Aug. 11, 1925 shows a divertingmechanism in the form of rotating discs which can be raised and loweredabove the rollers of the main conveyor to transfer articles to the sideof the latter.

The US. Pat. to Gentil No. 1,889,065, Nov. 29, 1932 shows a plurality ofdriven transfer wheels for diverting articles from a main conveyor to across conveyor.

The US. Pat. to Parisi No. 2,530,074, Nov. 14, 1950 has a diverter beltdistribution system for sand carried on a main belt, the divertercomprising adjustable height baffles in front of screw type diverteraugers.

The US. Pat. to Henry No. 2,758,728, Aug. 14, 1956 shows an indexedsweep conveyor having paddles that cross the main belt and deposit bagsof potato chips into a bin. The sweep conveyor is stopped in a positionso that the bags traveling along the main conveyor will not beinterfered with by the sweep paddles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The conveyor system of the present inventionwill be described as applying to a system for supplying husked ears ofcorn to one or more corn cutters disposed at the side of a mainconveyor. The main conveyor has a side wall which is provided with anadjustable gate for delivery of corn to a cleated take away conveyorrunning from the gate. Ears of corn are diverted from the main conveyorthrough the gate by a narrow diverter belt that runs flat across theconveying surface of the main conveyor. As the mass of cars is advancedalong the main conveyor, and carried over the diverter belt, thediverter belt urges the ears laterally through the gate into a reservesupply area behind the gate for pickup by a flighted take awayco'nveyor. Feed rolls flank the diverter belt delivery pulley foradvancing ears in the reserve onto the take away conveyor. When thereserve supply area is filled with ears, the diverting action of thediverter belt becomes ineffective, and now the ears are merely sweptacross the diverter belt to downstream locations, which may include oneor more diverting systems of the type just described. This systemfacilitates maintaining the flights of the take away conveyor that leadto a corn cutter fully supplied with ears of corn so that the cutteroperates at capacity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a plan view of a divertersystem embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a central longitudinal section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram in plan showing the mode of operation ofthe system.

FIG. 5 is a simplified view like that of FIG. 2, also illustrating themode of operation of the system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The major elements of a system 10 of the presentinvention (FIG. 1) include a wide, horizontally running main conveyorbelt 12, which belt is preferably an endless belt having the usual driveand idler pulleys at each end, now shown in the drawings. Runningtransversely of the main belt 12 is a narrow, low profile diverter belt14. The delivery end 15 of the diverter belt 14 is flanked by feedrollers 16 and an adjustable gate indicated generally at 18 provides adelivery port having a width "w" for admitting the ears of corn (seealso FIG. 4) to the feed rollers 16 from the main belt 12. The cars ofcorn are delivered by the feed rollers 16 to an ascending reach of acleated take away conveyor indicated generally at 20 having transversepockets 21. A double helix brush back roller, indicated generally at 22,is disposed above the conveyor 20. The brush back roller levels the massof ears deposited on the take away conveyor 20, disposes misplaced earslengthwise in the pockets 21 of that conveyor, and gently lays 'downupstanding ears. The configuration of the helical brush back roller 22illustrated herein forms the subject matter of the aforesaid copendingUnited States application of Sears et al.

The conveyor apparatus shown in the drawings is supported on frameworkillustrated generally at 24, the structural details of which are notcritical to the invention. The thin diverter belt 14, which runs flatacross the main belt 12, is trained around a drive pulley 30 mounted ona shaft 32 that runs in bearings supported in spaced brackets 34 (FIG.1). The brackets 34 are mounted on the frame 24 by means of adjustableposts 36, providing for tensioning of the diverter belt 14. The deliveryend 15 of the diverter belt 14 is trained around an idler pulley 37loosely mounted on a shaft 38, best seen in FIG. 3. The drive pulley 30for the diverter belt has a drive sprocket 39 on the shaft 32 and(FIG. 1) driven by a chain 40 (FIG. 2) and a sprocket 41 for that chainis on the shaft of a gearbox 42. The gear box is connected to anelectric motor 44. Thus, the speed of the diverter belt 14 isindependent of the speed of the other elements of the system.

The feed rollers 16 are mounted on the same shaft 38 that mounts thedelivery idler pulley 37 for the diverter belt, as best seen in FIG. 3.The feed rollers have large hubs 50, keyed to the shaft 38 at 52, andcovered with ribbed or corrugated rubber covers 54 to increase theirfrictional action against the ears of corn running through the machine.The rollers 16 have a diameter that slightly exceeds that of thediverter belt 14 at the pulley 37. The shaft 38, and hence the feedrollers 16, are rotated to provide a peripheral speed somewhat higherthan that of the diverter belt 14. In the embodiment shown, this resultis obtained by driving the shaft 38 independently of the diverter belt14. Thus, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, a drive sprocket 56 is keyed to oneend of the shaft 38 and a chain 58 is trained around that sprocket and asprocket 60 driven by gear box 62 and an associated electric motor 64.The motor and gear box assembly are mounted on a sub frame 66 supportedfrom the main frame 24 in any suitable manner, the details of which arenot critical to the present invention.

The adjustable gate 18 (FIGS. 1 and 3) cooperates with a fixed sideplate member 70 mounted on the main frame 24 to provide the opening wfor the admission of ears of corn to feed rolls 16 and on to the takeaway conveyor 20. In the preferred construction, the fixed side plate 70is placed downstream from the diverter belt 14 by a distance somewhatless than half the width of the take away conveyor 20. The divertingaction of the diverter belt 14 and the feeding action of the feed rolls16 are adjusted in accordance with the capacity of the take awayconveyor by making the gate 18 adjustable to control the horizontalwidth w" (FIG. 3). In the preferred construction illustrated, theadjustable gate 18 comprises a plate 72, one end of which is supportedon a bracket 74 that can be adjustably mounted along a slot 76 formed ina cross bar 78 of the frame work. The plate 72 is mounted on the bracket74 by elongate slots 79 and carriage bolt clamp assemblies 80.Additional slots 79a 79f and carriage bolt clamp bolt assemblies 82, 84mount the plate 72 on a vertical frame plate 86. As seen in FIG. 3 theslots 79a, etc. are spaced along the plate 72 at various distances. Withthis construction, fine adjustments of the gate plate 72 can be providedby means of the slot and clamp bolt constructions. Coarser adjustmentsof the gate opening can be made by positioning the clamp bolt 75 for thebracket 74 along the slot 76 and selecting newly aligned slots 79a,etc., in the plate 72 for matching with the bolts 82, 84 previouslydescribed.

The take away conveyor 20 is provided to carry ears which are layinghorizontally in the pockets 21 up and away from the distributingconveyor system of the present invention and deliver them to a corncutter or the like to one side thereof and not illustrated in thedrawings. Apparatus which receives ears oriented in the cleats of aconveyor and presents them to cutting and orienting devices is shown,for example, in the US. Patent to Ross et al. No. 3,394,805, July 30,1968, although the utility of the present invention is not limited touse of the patented apparatus.

The take away conveyor 20, the mounting and drive details of which arenot critical to the present invention, includes a pair of side chains 90having special links that mount transversely extending cleats 92 to formthe pockets 21. The cleats 92 are spaced longitudinally of the conveyorby a distance sufficient to provide pockets 21 large enough to receivelarger ears of corn, but preferably the cleats are not spaced enough toreceive two normally developed ears. The chains for the take awayconveyor 20 are trained over sprockets 94, 96 as seen in FIG. 2, and aredriven by the machine in which they are associated in a manner notcritical to the present invention and hence not illustrated.

As seen in FIG 2, a guard plate 98 surrounds the lower loop of the takeaway conveyor in order to prevent ears of corn that tumble down from thedelivery rolls 16 from getting caught in lower parts of the machine orfrom falling out of the machine.

The brush back roller 22 illustrated forms the subject matter of theaforesaid copending United States application of Sears et al. Thisroller has oppositely directed flexible helical flights 100,102 ofopposite hand or lead and disposed so that their rotation urges earsfrom the outside of the conveyor 20 towards its midplane. The hub 104 ofthe brush back roller is mounted on a shaft 106, supported in theframework for the take away conveyor. The shaft 106 mounts a sprocket108 (FIG. 1) which is driven by a chain 110 and a drive sprocket 112(FIG. 2) keyed to the roller shaft 38 previously described. The brushback roller 22 is rotated so that the portion thereof adjacent theascending flight of the take away conveyor 20 moves in a directionopposite to that of the conveyor cleats 92.

In a typical installation for handling ears of com, the main belt 12will be about 20 30 inches wide and will run at about I20 feet perminute. The diverter belt 14 will be about 2.0 inches wide, fivethirty-seconds inches thick and will be run at about feet per minute.The feed rollers 16 have a diameter of about 7 54: inches and turn atabout 88 RPM, giving a peripheral speed of the feed rollers 16 of aboutfeet per minute. The speed of the take away conveyor 20 will be about 39feet per minute. The width w" of the gate (FIG. 3) will vary from about11 inches to 20 inches and the brush back roller 22 will be about 1 1 V4inches in diameter and run at about 122 RPM.

OPERATION The operation of the diverter of the present invention, whenconveying ears of corn E to the take away conveyor 20, for delivery to acorn processing machine or the like, is illustrated diagrammatically inFIGS. 4 and 5. Generally, the main conveyor belt 12 will supply morethan one machine, although a diverter for only one machine isillustrated in the drawings. Thus, a mass of ears B will be transportedby the main belt 12 which is usually greater than accommodated by anygiven take away conveyor 20. As the ears E approach the diverter belt 14they are pushed onto the surface of that belt and hence are urgedlaterally (to the right in FIG. 4), towards the gate opening w." Theears that are partially on the diverter belt 14 and partially on themain belt 12 and are urged generally in the direction of the gate. Theresultant lateral and longitudinal frictional forces on the ears(indicated by small arrows) brings them through the gate opening "w" andinto contact with the faster running feed rolls 16, and the latterremove the ears from reserve supply thus formed and carry them to thecleats 92 on the take away conveyor 20.

It will be noted in FIG. 3 that the feed roll 16 has a diameter slightlygreater than that of the diverter belt 14 and its delivery end 15, sothat the feed rolls also tend to remove the ears from the diverter belt.With this action a reserve supply of ears is developed above the feedrolls, between the gate and the take away conveyor so that the cleats 92of the latter conveyor always have available a supply of cars to bepicked up and distributed to the machine which the take away conveyorserves.

Those ears which are not pushed through the gate by the feed roll 16 areswept along by the main belt 12 down to the next machine or to areceptacle at the end of that belt for return to the system. The purposeof the gate 18 is to assure a substantial uniform optimum loading of thepockets 21 formed by cleats 92 of the take away conveyor. When the plate72 of the gate is disposed at the associated edge of the diverter belt14, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the width w" of the gate opening is at aminimum. If the relative speeds of the various conveyors is such thatthis opening does not maintain an adequate reserve supply of the ears atthe rollers 16, then the plate 72 of the gate is adjusted by the meanspreviously described to increase the width *w" of the gate opening. Awider opening than that of FIG. 1 is illustrated in the diagram of FIG.4, wherein the plate 72 is spaced somewhat upstream from the associatededge of the diverter belt 12. The reserve group of cars between the sideof the main belt 12 and the take away conveyor 20 can be maintained sothat most of the cleat pockets 21 of the latter conveyor are filled withtwo or more cars of corn E. Generally there will be more ears suppliedto the gate than can be removed therefrom, and the excess ears aremerely carried on downstream to the next gate by the main belt 12.

As mentioned, the adjustable gate plate 72 is shown in its mostrestrictive position in FIGS. 1 and 3, that is, it is adjacent theassociated edge of the diverter belt 14. If, under given operatingconditions, an inadequate supply of ears is being forwarded by the feedroller 16, the gate plate 72 can be adjusted to a more open positionsuch as that illustrated in FIG. 4. Experience has shown that theadjustment of the gate plate 72 under given conditions is rathersensitive and represents an unexpectedly precise means of controllingthe operacommodated by the diverter system and hence the reserve areaabove the feed rolls 16 will always be substantially full.

Once the ears have been picked up by the cleats 92 of the conveyor 20,they fall between the cleats 92 in the desired lateral disposition inpockets 21. The brush back roller 22, as described in the aforesaidUnited States copending application, facilitates this orderlyorientation of the ears in the take away conveyor 20.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the presentinvention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent thatmodification and variation may be made without departing from what isregarded to be the subject matter of the invention.

What we claim is:

l. A self metering feeder conveyor system comprising a main conveyorbelt, a narrow low profile diverter belt running flat across theconveying surface of said main belt, a take away conveyor at the side ofsaid main belt at the delivery end of said diverter belt, a retainerwall running along said side of the main belt and means forming a gatein said retainer wall at said diverter belt for releasing articles thatare urged across the main belt by said diverter belt, the thickness ofsaid diverter belt being the sole obstruction to the advance of articlesby said main belt.

2. A self metering feeder conveyor system for discrete articlescomprising a main conveyor belt, a narrow low profile diverter beltrunning flat across conveying surface to said main belt, a pulley forthe delivery end of said diverter belt at one side of said main belt,feed rolls flanking said diverter belt pulley, a retainer wall runningalong said one side of the main belt, means forming a gate in saidretainer wall to provide access to said feed rolls for articles urgedacross the main belt by said diverter belt, a take away conveyor forreceiving articles from said feed pulleys, and means for driving saidmain and diverter belts and said feed rolls.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said feed rolls have a higherperipheral speed than the linear speed of said diverter belt.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said diverter belt pulley and said feedrolls are on the same shaft, with said diverter belt pulley being looseon said shaft, said feed rolls being keyed to the shaft, and means todrive the shaft.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein said fe'ed rolls are longitudinallyribbed.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the retainer wall has an adjustablegate member for varying the width of" said gate.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the adjustable gate member is upstreamof said diverter belt.

t I! l

1. A self metering feeder conveyor system comprising a main conveyor belt, a narrow low profile diverter belt running flat across the conveying surface of said main belt, a take away conveyor at the side of said main belt at the delivery end of said diverter belt, a retainer wall running along said side of the main belt and means forming a gate in said retainer wall at said diverter belt for releasing articles that are urged across the main belt by said diverter belt, the thickness of said diverter belt being the sole obstruction to the advance of articles by said main belt.
 2. A self metering feeder conveyor system for discrete articles comprising a main conveyor belt, a narrow low profile diverter belt running flat across conveying surface to said main belt, a pulley for the delivery end of said diverter belt at one side of said main belt, feed rolls flanking said diverter belt pulley, a retainer wall running along said one side of the main belt, means forming a gate in said retainer wall to provide access to said feed rolls for articles urged across the main belt by said diverter belt, a take away conveyor for receiving articles from said feed pulleys, and means for driving said main and diverter belts and said feed rolls.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein said feed rolls have a higher peripheral speed than the linear speed of said diverter belt.
 4. The system of claim 3 wherein said diverter belt pulley and said feed rolls are on the same shaft, with said diverter belt pulley being loose on said shaft, said feed rolls being keyed to the shaft, and means to drive the shaft.
 5. The system of claim 3, wherein said feed rolls are longitudinally ribbed.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein the retainer wall has an adjustable gate member for varying the width of said gate.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the adjustable gate member is upstream of said diverter belt. 